The Blind Owl [Paperback]

Sadegh Hedayat (Author), D.P. Costello (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 1994

Considered one of the most important works of modern Iranian literature, The Blind Owl is a haunting tale of loss and spiritual degradation. Replete with potent symbolism and terrifying surrealistic imagery, Sadegh Hedayat's masterpice details a young man's despair after losing a mysterious lover. As the narrator gradually drifts into madness, the reader becomes caught in the sandstorm of Hedayat's bleak vision of the human condition.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Persian --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Sadegh Hedayat was born in Teheran in 1903, of an aristocratic family, and spent most of his life there. In 1951, during a stay in Paris, Hedayat committed suicide. Recognised as the outstanding Persian writer of the century, Hedayat is generally credited with having brought his country's language and literature into the mainstream of contemporary writing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (January 11, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802131808
• ISBN-13: 978-0802131805
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,318 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surreal, not so real . . ., September 21, 2005

By 

Ronald Scheer "rockysquirrel" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Blind Owl (Paperback)

Readers have compared this classic modern Persian novel to the works of Poe's fevered imagination. Its hero is delusional, obsessed, and maybe totally mad. The narrative is dream-like in structure, which is to say layered, circular, and driven by its own demented logic.

If that's not enough, the far-from-reliable narrator has fiercely psychotic conflicts regarding women. The author may well be commenting on the deep divisions between men and women in his culture, where attraction is balanced against profound distrust. His narrator is either idealizing women or portraying them as evil incarnate.

Meanwhile, there are episodes of black comedy, one involving identical twin men locked in a room with a cobra. And the cycling and recycling of nightmarish images, each as if occurring for the first time, offers an ironic motif of déjà vu. Recommended to lovers of the surreal who enjoy puzzling over the meanings of dreams, whether personal or effusions of the collective unconscious.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars dark and wonderful., December 25, 1999

By 

sincerly bored & attempting to kill a too... (budapest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blind Owl (Paperback)

i just finished reading the blind owl, and it IS one of the best books i've ever read. the first section is very dark and symbolic and contains a lot of repetitions - a picture within a picture within a picture. i rather wish the book had contained more chapters like this. it was too wonderful for words. the second section detailed the unraveling of the main character in his daily tangible life: his feverish confinement to his room, his growing anxiety, his sense of pervasive and impending doom, which extended beyond himself to the whole of mankind and nature. unfortunately, since my background on iran and ancient persia is somewhat wanting, i think i missed much of the historical symbolism that other readers have mentioned, and had swallowed it mostly as a psychological novel. i'm going to reread it and also look for some kind of a supplement. read this book!

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and haunting, truely like no other, February 14, 2003

By 

N. Jacobs (Fish Creek, Wi USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Blind Owl (Paperback)

An Persian friend reccommended this book to me, and managed to read it all in one sitting. It was such a quick, compelling read, with so much going on that you feel like you are running through a sandstorm. I have NEVER read a description of an insane mind as well written as this. Poe, Lovecraft, and Dostoeyevsky, I would say, have written excellent descriptions of insane minds, but this is by far the best. By the way, Lovecraft and Dostoyevsky are my two favorite authors.
The passage where the narrator describes his dream woman as an angel, and describes the beauty of her eyes is definatly the most beautiful passage I have ever read. Likewise, his descriptions of the more gruesome scenes are really quite disgusting.
Hedayat really wrote a masterpiece here. I would highly reccomend it to people who enjoy the authors I have previously mentioned. Its a great book, with so many layers, and so many different ways to interpret what's going on. In the end, even I was unable to figure out what the truth of the matter really was. Absolutely fascinating.